So at work my group (the IT Dept) had a request from another administrative team to get a bunch of playbooks because they're doing some web content junk and they want to be sure it displays properly on a PB. They have some kind of idea for the use of the PB with some content 6 months from now but my team really has no idea what they're doing.

Anyways... We decided that buying a couple of 16GB PB's at $500 each just for 'testing' is retarded and we wanted to provide a simple method for them to check their work. Oh hey there's a playbook simulator, easy solution!

Going through, it seems that the only required components are VMWare Fusion and the PB emulator...

Problem is that VMWare fusion is not free! RIM acknowledges this and more or less says "too bad, but don't worry we work close with VMWare to make sure this shit is a great experience"

With more programmers, developers etc seemingly using Macs, how does this create a fair environment for development?

"So sorry, if you use a Mac to develop on then the solution we have for you to simulate and test is going to cost you money right from the beginning"

I know its only $50 and in the grand scheme that's not much money... but honestly this is the kind of crap that I can see would turn someone away.

That and they use some stupid downloader you need to install before you can obtain the VM images.

Anyways, 10% of the price of an actual PB is going to be acceptable in our situation, I just feel that its a joke to have to do this.

Again this should be a wake up call for RIM. Even though they are in the process of launching new devices they need to keep up with the other platforms with speed,applications,browser etc to keep the market happy

Admin team has asked you to test technological compatibility for something that is not going to be happening for 6 months?

You should mention to the admin team that the PB's OS is receiving a major upgrade in February. Which is in 4 months and that they may want to wait for web content junk testing to be done after it drops.